Okposo Night on Long Island
There are not too many nights where there is a four goal scorer and now it’s happened three times in ten days as Kyle Okposo turned the trick on Friday after the Blues David Backes did it on January 6. Mathieu Perreault also did it on January 13. Okposo and Backes took six shots to accomplish the rare feat while Perreault took seven.
I remember six goals being scored twice, once by Darryl Sittler of Toronto with the other being Red Berenson of St. Louis. Sittler’s was a magical night as he also had four assists for a ten point night, something that has never been done before in the NHL and with scoring way down, maybe never to happen again.
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NEW YORK RANGERS 2 COLUMBUS 1
Chris Kreider’s ninth goal of the season in the second stanza held up as the winner as the Rangers defeated Columbus 2-1 Friday.
Marc Staal, who is close to agreeing to a six-year extension, opened the scoring with his second of the season and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves to boost his record to 21-9-3.
Derek Stepan returned from a one game absence due to an upper body injury and set up both goals to give him 23 assists in 29 games.
Scott Hartnell scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets as Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 24 saves to drop his record to 15-14-2, picked up his first assist of the season.
Josh Anderson of the Blue Jackets made his NHL debut, taking two shots in 11:21.
VANCOUVER 3 CAROLINA 0
Ryan Miller picked up his second straight shutout as the Canucks defeated the Hurricanes 3-0.
Miller stopped 28 shots after stopping 30 against the Flyers on Thursday to improve his record to 22-9-1.
Cam Ward in the Carolina net gave up all three goals in the second period as Derek Dorsett picked up his fifth, Shawn Matthias with his eighth and Alex Burrows found the net for his 10th.
Ward stopped 10 shots before he was taken out of the game after two periods. Anton Khudobin made all four saves in the third period.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS 6 PITTSBURGH 3
It was a huge night for Kyle Okposo as he potted four goals to lead the Islanders to a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh.
Okposo’s linemates John Tavares and Josh Bailey chipped in with three assists apiece as the Islanders moved to the top of the Eastern Conference standings with the win.
I mentioned in The Week Ahead yesterday to pick up Josh Bailey in deeper leagues. I hope you did.
The Penguins got off to a 2-0 lead in the first as Sidney Crosby and David Perron scored on the power play. The Penguins power play, which was the NHL’s best in the first month of the season, had struggled mightily of late until Friday night’s performance.
Crosby scored again, this time with five seconds to go in the second to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead going into the third as Ryan Strome with his eighth had tied up the game earlier in the second.
Michael Grabner into the empty net finished the scoring for the Long Islanders as Jaroslav Halak stopped 21 shots to garner his 24th win of the season.
Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 34 shots to take the loss. His record is now 22-8-4 with a 2.24 GAA and a .924 save percentage.
NASHVILLE 4 WASHINGTON 3
James Neal scored twice including the winner as the Predators scored a pair with less than five minutes remaining in the third to defeat the Capitals 4-3.
The loss by Washington ruined the return of former coach Barry Trotz who led the Predators for every season until he was let go by Nashville at the end of the 2013-14 season. Trotz received a standing ovation when a tribute to him was shown on the scoreboard during a break in the action.
Seth Jones opened the scoring with his third of the season while Mattias Ekholm tied the game at three with 4:29 to go in the third.
Carter Hutton stopped 31 shots for his first win of the season. He will be counted on to do a lot more as number one goalie Pekka Rinne is out three-five weeks with a sprained knee.
Alex Ovechkin had a pair while Marcus Johansson scored once for the Capitals.
Braden Holtby, who got his 21st straight start in the Washington net, took the loss as he gave up four goals on 30 shots. He is now 22-9-7 this season with a 2.22 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
WINNIPEG 4 CHICAGO 2
Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little each scored their 17th goals of the season while Zach Bogosian and Chris Thorburn each put in their third of the season to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 win over Chicago.
Michael Hutchinson made 31 saves to bump his record to 13-4-2 as he picked up his third straight win and fourth in his last five. His GAA of 2.00 and save percentage of .932 are both second best in the NHL.
Corey Crawford turned aside 31 shots as Ladd’s goal was an empty netter. Crawford is now 17-9-2 with a 2.18 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
Brandon Saad with his 13th and Teuvo Teravainen with his first NHL goal replied for Chicago. It was the first of many for Teravainen who is definitely keeper material in pools that will last longer than this year.
ANAHEIM 5 NEW JERSEY 1
Jakob Silfverberg scored twice including once on the power play to power the Ducks to a 5-1 win over the tumbling New Jersey Devils.
Ilya Bryzgalov got a rare start and finally put it together, although he had to stop only 14 of 15 shots to head his way, for his first win of the season against two losses. Bryzgalov was a perfect 14-for-14 at even strength but gave up the goal on the only shot with the Devils having the man-advantage as Martin Havlat beat him for his fifth of the season.
Keith Kinkaid started the second and gave up four goals on 25 shots as he replaced Cory Schneider. The Ducks managed to score once on Schneider on 15 shots. Schneider suffered an upper body injury in the first when he took a shot from Matt Beleskey and while he finished the period, he did not return.
Corey Perry opened the scoring with his 19th of the season and fourth in the last two games while Patrick Maroon and Hampus Lindholm each had a goal and an assist.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Kyle Okposo 4
Alex Ovechkin 2
James Neal 2
Sidney Crosby 2
ASSISTS
John Tavares 3
Josh Bailey 3
SHOTS
Alex Ovechkin 9
Michael Frolik 6
Ron Hainsey 6
Kyle Okposo 6
HITS
Matt Martin 8
Simon Despres 8
Cal Clutterbuck 7
PENALTY MINUTES
Tim Sestito 17
Andy Peluso 17
Brent Seabrook 7
Bryan Bickell 7
PLUS/MINUS
Seth Jones +3
Travis Hamonic +3
John Tavares +3
Josh Bailey +3
Kyle Okposo +3
BLOCKS
John Carlson 7
Karl Alzner 6
PLUS/MINUS
Andy Greene -3
Brooks Orpik -3
Chris Kunitz -3
Christian Ehrhoff -3
